Passenger Trains > The Thruway busses of Galesburg

1st bus for Indianapolis after #4 & 6's arrival.
2nd bus is for the Quad Cities.
3rd bus is the later departure for Indianapolis.
Bus abuse comments accepted, I can take it. These buses are an
important part of the Amtrak operation in Galesburg.

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Here is the rail content. #382 The Carl Sandburg, under the signal tower at Galesburg.

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All good, JW! Nice photos--I'd expect nothing less from a former proud driver, BTW!
Now, where is my copy of "Bus World?!?" ;)

Galesburg X 2. This shot was of #5 last Monday August 25.

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Those are Burlington Trailways buses.

In the CB & Q established The Burlington Transportation Company to provide intercity bus service. It was also known as Burlington Lines. It was started with one route linking Burlington, IA and Galesburg, IL.

Burlington Lines continued to grow with one route extending as far west as Denver. Chicago - California service was added. The Motor Carriers Act of 1935 placed restrictions on railroad companies’ ownership of bus lines.

During the following year, Burlington Trailways became a founding member of the National Trailways Bus System. In 1947, CB & Q sold its remaining interest in the company. In 1952, the name changed to American Bus Lines and two years later, it was bought by Continental Trailways.

In 1981, Ron & Lori Moore reestablished Burlington Trailways and grew the company.

More details about Burlington Trailways' history with illustrations can be found here:

http://burlingtontrailways.com/about-us/history/

Thanks mp15w for starting this thread.

The Busses are an important part of the Amtrak System.
I do not know how we could afford to run trains to all these small locations.

Do the Thruway buses here. Have the same law as California does with it's thruway service?

Meaning, a portion of the trip has to have a Train on part of the journey.

Or can anyone buy a ticket to anywhere along the bus's route?

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

These Burlington Trailways buses are not dedicated Amtrak Thruway buses so yes, you can buy a ticket to any Trailways
destination. In fact, I believe there is a separate bus station in Galesburg.
In California, a lot of those Thruways are dedicated buses for Amtrak passengers only.

Nice looking buses and it sure would be nice to see growth in passenger numbers, connectivity, and reliability. The California model of train service augmented by connecting bus routes with guaranteed connections should be much more widely adapted.

One of the Galesburg ticket agents told me that Amtrak plans on expanding the train station and consolidating the buses into a single inter-modal terminal.